Dublin Airport was hit by a power outage on Sunday morning, causing traffic chaos at the airport and delays at check-in and at US pre-clearance in Terminal 2 for a period of time.
The power failure knocked out backup generators that are designed to ensure the airport can operate in the event of more general loss of power in the area around the airport.
A spokeswoman for DAA said 15 flights were delayed this morning due to the power outage.
A spokesman said the operation at Terminal 2 has now returned to normal, although check-in, security screening and boarding processes are all now slower than usual due to a large number of passengers needing to be processed.
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“Delays are expected in T2 this afternoon, but flights from T1 are not impacted. Passengers due to fly this afternoon are advised to travel to the airport as normal,” he said.
DAA said this morning’s outage, which occurred at around 7.50am in north Co Dublin, was caused by an under voltage in the ESB Network. It said this may have caused a control system failure that prevented Dublin Airport’s backup generator from kicking in, “as it always has during previous power outages”.
Among the areas affected, according to passengers, was the dedicated US pre-clearance facility in Terminal 2, which appeared to be closed until around 11am on Sunday.
Earlier, ESB confirmed it was dealing with a power outage after a “significant fault” in north Co Dublin, affecting some 34,000 customers.
Aer Lingus told customers it plans to run a full schedule but said it would offer any customers who miss their flights the option to rebook to an alternative date within the next seven days.
In a statement, a spokesperson for DAA said the issue has now been resolved after the outage led to a loss of power in “parts of Terminal 2″.
Videos have emerged of passengers queuing outside Terminal 2 awaiting instruction from DAA during the early morning outage.
Sources told The Irish Times that passengers were allowed into the terminal after power was restored at around 10am. However, there was widespread confusion among passengers amid lengthy queues for check-in and baggage drop with what sources described as a lack of co-ordination by DAA staff.
Passengers said security in Terminal 2 seemed to be coping well in the aftermath of the power failure with passengers getting through that area in around 16 minutes.
From midmorning, however, the departures hall in Terminal 2 and its check in desks were packed with passengers who had been provided with little information.
Rebecca Kerens from Tallaght, who is due to go on her honeymoon to Lanzarote described Terminal 2 as “mayhem”.
She, along with her husband who has a broken leg, were waiting for two hours to check in their bags for a flight at 2.30pm, she said.
Despite booking special assistance for her husband, she was initially told they were better off queuing outside with others. However, after waiting an hour, she sought help from the special assistance desk who told her to bring her husband immediately.
“We were afraid to move because we were in the queue. It’s mayhem, there’s people with babies, people pregnant and older people standing down there,” she said.
Intending passenger Stephanie Ryan, from Charleston, South Carolina, had been waiting in queues for more than an hour since arriving at the airport. At one point, she said, “there was no official end to the line.”
“Our taxi driver who brought us told us that the last time he saw it like this was during Covid.”
When she arrived shortly after 10am, queues were winding up and down outside Terminal 2. She spent about 45 minutes outside before she could get inside the terminal for her flight home.
While Ms Ryan remained uncertain about the impact of the power outage on her flight to Philadelphia, and despite “line jumping” from other passengers eager to get ahead, she seemed relieved just to be indoors.
“Ours is at 1.55pm so we should still make it and, as of right now, it’s still running on time,” she said. “We have been hearing agents yelling the flights that are coming up.”
While she was speaking to The Irish Times, a United Airlines worker shouted: “Anyone for Washington?”
“They’ve been doing that, and outside too,” she said, adding passengers with imminent flights are being brought to the front of the lines.
“It’s quite bad, there is absolutely no staff to tell us anything. I arrived at 10.30am and we were left waiting outside, no one knew anything,” said Charlotte Purcell, whose gate was due to close within 30 minutes.
“I hope I’m not going to miss my flight, but I’d say all of the flights are going to be delayed anyway. They are not saying anything; they should have people saying how long it will be delayed by,” she said.
Ms Purcell spent an hour and a half waiting to get her bag checked in, 45 minutes of which were spent outside Terminal 2.
While living in Ireland for 30 years, the 55-year-old flies back and forth between Paris regularly to visit her parents.
“I think people are very calm, maybe because it’s Ireland. In other countries they wouldn’t be so calm but I’ve never seen it this bad,” she said.
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